The Day The World Stood Still
by vanity-issues
Summary: ..."Of course people are panicking, f*cking planes are falling out of the damn sky...". When the world suddenly seems to halt to a grinding stop, Tia Halibel finds herself being dragged into something deep and complicated. R & R if you please!


_Got this idea when I was sitting on the roof of my building! Hope you like… (I will update my other story soon if you are wondering!)_

_**Summary: Halibel was sitting on the top of her building minding her own business when it happened, things fell out of the sky, rubble blasted everywhere and London went down…and so did the rest of the world. AU, OOCness mature themes/languages, you have been warned**_

**The Day the Earth went still**

**Chapter One: 997 Days to go**

Tia Halibel took another drag from the cigarette, it seemed to be a bit more frantic than the last, as if someone was watching her and she needed to go. She had only discovered access to the roof the previous day and it was already her favourite haunt. She could only do it after a certain time though. The hustle and bustle of central London in the day was not ideal for her to gather her thoughts.

She pulled her legs closer to her body and looked out to the sights before her. The impressive senate house of the university of London shot up in the sky and the BT tower just behind it flashed '997 days till the Olympics'. Centre tower shot up even higher than the tower, just close to Tottenham court road and the calming, beautiful roof of the British Museum gave off a friendly glow.

She really liked it up here.

It was a place to gather her thoughts, no one judged her or pulled her down, the stress of university work just didn't seem to exist.

She pulled out another cigarette and lit it again and took in another slight frenzied drag and looked onto the sight again.

The lights made everything so…pretty.

The noise didn't even hit her ears…all she saw was a plane just…fall onto the BT tower. It didn't even sail down as if to land it was like someone had dropped a stone. Halibel stubbed out the cigarette and only when she stood did the force of the wind and noise hit her. She stumbled back onto the railing and gripped for dear life.

She watched as in the distance, the area looked like Leicester square another plane dropped and sent debris and dust sky high.

She blinked and gasped and ran towards the door, she tripped over the door ledge and fell down the immediate stairs. She didn't even stop to take in any possible damage she had done and ran down the rest of the stairs two at a time.

She burst into the flat as Rangiku and Mila ran into the hallway.

"What has just happened?!" Rangiku asked gasping, she had obviously ran out of her room full speed.

Halibel just continued to breathe in deep breaths.

"Halibel! Tia!" Mila asked.

"Planes…just…fell!" Halibel gasped.

"What?!" they both replied incredulously.

"I was just on the roof and a plane hit the BT tower! And somewhere in the distance!"

The three young women looked at each other and ran to the window, looking over the street of Southampton Row. People had stopped in their tracks and were looking to the sky.

"You think it's a terrorist attack?" Mila barely whispered.

"I don't think so…" Halibel regained her voice and her thoughts.

"Shit!" Rangiku pulled out her phone tapped at a few buttons and held it to her ear "…Gin?"

Mila and Halibel rolled their eyes, like her boyfriend could do anything.

"…you too?" Rangiku's eyes widened and looked at her friends and flatmates.

"What?" Mila asked.

"Planes are falling all over Ealing too!" Rangiku hissed at them, she held the phone back to her ears and pulled the call.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

Halibel leaned back against the counter…what could be happening? Planes falling out of the sky? Maybe it was a freak accident? Terrorists couldn't do that…Or could they? She pushed off and ran to the living room and turned on the TV and put it on the BBC news channel. Her friends soon followed her and they sat in front of the TV, hungry for an answer.

"Experts and governments all over the world are puzzling together as several planes have fallen out of the sky" the news presenter announced "It was reported at around twelve-fourteen AM all the flights across the world in the sky suddenly dropped out of sky. Officials say a terrorist attack is unlikely"

"Bullshit" Rangiku hissed.

"Come on…how can terrorists have the man power to do that? To co-ordinate it at that time?" Mila argued.

"Sssh!" Halibel scolded them both.

The two women fell silent and turned back to the screen.

"We ask people stay inside…news just in, world governments have already reconvened to shut down all major airports and cancel worldwide flights…"

"What the fuck?" Mila whispered to herself.

"This is weird" Halibel spoke, worry beginning to eat up on her. She stood and ran to her room and called her mother…she was fine, thank goodness…she was currently trying to get hold of her father. She dropped the phone, reassuring her mother she was fine…she didn't need another source of worry and panic right now.

The three women stayed up and watched the news till three AM. Soon they all fell asleep on the sofa, tangled with each other, they all slept slightly uneasy. Only when Halibel lifted her head and realised they were in total darkness did she bolt upright.

She got up, carefully shifting Rangiku aside and waking towards the light switch, she cursed and hissed as she stubbed her foot three times. She hopped to where she assumed the light switch would be and flicked it.

No light.

She flicked it, and flicked it again and then bellowed "GUYS THE LIGHTS ARE OUT!"

She blindly felt for the door and into the hallway, dim light escaped from the kitchen and she followed it and realised…it was the moonlight, the main road they lived on which was fairly busy at times was now cast in darkness.

She looked around and saw two lone cars had veered into each other and an ambulance had appeared, providing some more light.

"What the fuck?" Rangiku appeared, scaring her slightly.

"Hang on" Halibel felt her way to her room and found a thick garment she prayed was a sweater. She felt around for her boots.

"What are you doing?" Mila asked.

"Going outside, to find out what is going on!"

"Halibel, wait!" Mila snapped "all of London appeared to be thrown into darkness, going out there wouldn't be the best! Let's just stay here for tonight or at least wait till the sun comes up!"

Halibel sat on her bed and nodded, even though Mila couldn't properly see her. She was right, she would probably fall all the way down the pitch black stairs before she would even feel the night air on her face.

"Okay, sorry, that was a stupid idea"

"It wasn't stupid" Mila rose said sighing "hopefully this is just like a thing…"

"Let's just go to sleep okay?"

"Okay…" Halibel waited "are you guys not going to your bed?"

"No" they said together and slowly.

"Come on" Halibel removed the sweater and boots and shuffled so far that she hit the wall "let's all sleep!"

"AH!" the three squealed as the slats on Halibel's bed collapsed under their combined weight.

The three giggled for a few minutes and went straight to sleep, slightly exhausted from the night's activities.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Halibel woke to the door slamming and sat up slowly, she heard angry muttering and then soothing voices.

"Hey" she pulled her door open.

"The underground is down, completely…every route, everything!" Rangiku hissed "I was hoping to go see Gin"

Halibel thought of the tall, silver haired guy and nodded, Rangiku would obviously want him to be here with her…it was nice that she could depend on Gin not just as a lover but as family. But she supposed both of them who were orphans depended on each other in more than a romantic way. It was nice, she noted begrudgingly to herself.

"What about the buses?"

"Absolutely rammed" Rangiku noted in an irked tone.

"Let's see what's on the news"

"Electricity is still out"

"Fuck" Halibel sighed and went to her phone.

She threw it away in annoyance and went into the bathroom to shower, she turned it on, hoping for a nice warm shower to calm her down, but the water blasted out cold. She jumped and cursed but showered anyway, feeling more refreshed. She dressed and did her usual beauty regime, despite knowing that at a time like this no-one would be bothered what she looked like.

"I'm going out!" she called to her flatmates and escaped before they could do anything.

She pressed for the lift, out of habit, and tutted when she realised…there was no electricity!

She began the walk down the seven flights of stairs and into the street. The streets were rammed, mostly taxis and buses but there seemed to be a complete gridlock and chaos. Horns beeped and people talked anxiously and loudly on their phones as they hurried past. London was a frenzy city but this was near…crazy.

Halibel walked on began the short walk to the university campus by the Aldwych, maybe the university was doing something there.

Sirens began to wail but seemed to ring as they too were trapped in the gridlock. Halibel walked with the crowd and began to push past.

"Ichigo!" she noted the bright orange hair and clambered towards him "what's going on?"

"I don't know!" Ichigo replied, his furrow even deeper "It started yesterday night, or this morning!"

Halibel nodded "I know, I know…are you on your way to campus as well?"

He nodded "I figured it would be the best thing to do…"

She linked arms with him, as they walked towards High Holborn an especially busy area.

"Everyone in London is walking" Ichigo noted, as now they were moving at a snail's pace.

"I know…what do you think happened?"

"I don't know…Rukia reckons some kind of magnetic pulse" he pronounced in his American, Japanese tainted accent "blew out the planes and electricity"

"Surely they must have a contingency plan!" she pulled him down an alley which would take them off the busy streets for now.

He pulled him past pubs, cafes and a park called Lincoln's Inn Field and past the Royal courts of Justice. They approached the campus and saw other students who lived nearby must have been thinking the same thing as them.

Students milled by the main administrative building and all were jabbering excitedly about the events so far.

Halibel snorted as theories of aliens began to mill around.

Her and Ichigo waited in silence at the front door. The crowd began to quieten as a figure was standing at the top of the main steps. Halibel looked to see who is was and recognized it was the Dean of the university, Jushiro Ukitake.

"Everyone, please calm down!" he said calmly into a megaphone.

Everyone instantly shut up and awaited with…a weird, almost feral, impatience.

"We are currently in touch with authorities on the current situation, until we discover why and power systems are back up, lectures, classes and activities are suspended!" he waited for a reaction but none "…until then I suggest you stay in your places of residence until further instruction comes by"

The crowd grumbled and soon quickly began to disperse.

"Well, that's that" Ichigo sighed, his broad shoulders falling.

"Damn" Halibel ran a hand through her blonde hair and looked at him "I can't stay in the flat…I'll go crazy"

"Ditto…do you want to walk somewhere?"

Halibel nodded "anything to take my mind of this chaos"

Ichigo led her towards the City of London and they made small talk, still distracted by the goings-on. Like the road by her flat, the roads in the city were absolutely manic.

They noted the bankers in their suits, talking hurriedly into expensive cell phones and tapping at sleek PDAs.

"I guess communication lines aren't down…that's so strange" he noted.

"I know…if electricity is down…why aren't the communications? I saw BT tower basically get crushed"

"Weird…" Ichigo trailed and frowned.

"What's the matter? I can't see as high as you"

"Look…" he gestured carelessly but quickly.

Halibel followed the motion to a man…no-one seemed to notice him, but then again in London no-one ever noticed you or what you did.

He was tall, with bright blue hair. He was wearing a snugly fitted black suit, with a white shirt and tie. He looked like a rock-star with rings all over his fingers. He was smoking calmly and speaking into a phone as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Ichigo and Halibel looked at each other and began to push their way over to him. Ichigo took her hand and they both slowed down as they approached him, listening carefully.

"City is manic" he said calmly, in a gruff voice "…of course people are panicking, fucking planes, are falling out of the damn sky…no I don't know who…everyone looks suspicious for fuck's sake"

He began to converse harshly and rapidly in another language.

"He's speaking Japanese"

"What?"

"Listen carefully" Ichigo muttered as they began to level with him.

Halibel listened and…he was!

"_I can't do shit, when I can't get around…moving in a car is useless, the place is fucking manic…this is just too disorganised to be a terrorist attack…I'll head over to Westminister to parliament and scope it out there…"_

Halibel and Ichigo began to speed up as they were completely past him and rounded a corner.

Ichigo released a breath and looked at her "you heard him right? You can speak Japanese"

"I did…you think, he's in on it?"

"I don't think so…I don't know. But he knows a lot more than we do…" he trailed off and looked at her.

"No!" she recognized the look in his eye.

Ichigo and Halibel had been pretty good friends since orientation week about two years ago and she knew him and his mannerisms pretty well. He wanted to follow the blue-haired man and investigate.

"We need to follow him, we could find ou-"

"No, Ichigo, No" Halibel snapped "I think we should stay out of it, it sounded like he was going to sort things out"

Ichigo glared at her and she glared back, Ichigo may have looked like a tough guy but she wasn't easily pressured by him.

"I think you should listen to the girl"

They both jumped and turned towards the main road. The blue-haired guy was smoking easily and looking at them through cold, brilliant blue eyes. Ichigo stepped forward and nudged Halibel behind him.

"Listen, you look like smart kids…I'd forget what you heard"

"We didn't hear anything" Ichigo argued.

"I know you did, if you two listened any harder you would have stopped and replied to whatever I had said on the phone in Japanese…I assumed you understood"

Halibel piped up "Listen, okay, we don't want any problems…we're just confused-"

"Like everyone else" he snapped back.

"Fuck it, what's going on? I know you know"

"Oh, I don't carrot top"

"Fuck you" Ichigo hissed, the bright colour of his hair a sore spot.

"Easy now" the blue eyes flashed dangerously as they narrowed at Ichigo "I won't hesitate to kill you"

"Ichigo! For fuck's sake, leave it!" Halibel screamed at him, pulling him away. She dragged him towards the man, back to the safety of the main road.

"If I see you two again, I will assume the worse" the man said in her in a warning tone.

"I assure you, you won't"

_Whooooo, first chapter…plot bunny rearing it's ears?? Yes it is!_

_Please review my dears! Thank you!_

_x_


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